Character Sketch of Allice Trask from East Side of Eden
Character Sketch of Allice Trask from East Side of Eden
I think that Alice brings a lot of irony to the story. It is like she is unwanted or has no importance to other characters in the story. Cyrus only wanted a woman to keep the house clean and take care of Adam, and he didn’t want to pay for a servant. Thus, he ends up falling for Alice. Cyrus married and impregnated Alice within 2 weeks after they had met each other. I think that this made Alice seem a little weird because at first she was single and living a normal life and all of a sudden she is a wife living a life that is very dull and inactive. Yet she did affect the boys a little. She treated them equally unlike Cyrus. This is why I think this is ironic. Cyrus liked Adam more than Charles. Adam and Charles liked Alice more than Cyrus. And Charles didn’t like Adam. I found this weird because even though they are a family they are playing favorites.
Alice is very quiet and doesn’t show much emotion. (Paraphrased-page 27) The narrator describes her as “not very pretty” and that there was “no need to watch her.” (Page 20) This is what Cyrus found as a good quality in Alice. He thinks that her “greatest virtue” is that she never had an opinion or virtue. (Page 20)
I think the defining moment in Alice’s life was when she married Cyrus. I think this is so because before she met Cyrus, her life was pretty much normal and she was happy with it. But after they had gotten married, Alice became very quiet and tacit. I think that she getting married to Cyrus affected her and in turn her becoming very reserved is what happened.